Formation 8

Robot arms have come a long way since the 1960’s when George C. Devol and Joseph Engelberger created the earliest industrial models. Those had two-finger grippers that, in retrospect, look fit to pluck a rubber ducky out of a bin in a carnival game, but nothing too sophisticated.
By now, robots in factories and warehouses can adjust their grip like human hands, or use suction and… Read More

A cute, robotic language tutor called Musio, has made it from crowdfunding campaign to full-fledged product with a debut in stores this week in Japan. Priced at JPY 98,000 (about US $900), Musio is now sold online through SoftBank’s marketplace and Amazon Japan, and through a handful of brick-and-mortars stores. Read More

Jim Kim, who most recently co-founded the venture firm Formation 8, is launching a brand-new venture firm called Builders that looks to be raising a $200 million fund, judging by a recent SEC filing. His co-founder is Paul Lee, who left the Chicago venture firm Lightbank in 2014 and last year launched a startup studio called Roniin. Read More

If the idea of wearing spider silk intrigues, the idea of managing a farm full of spiders isn’t all that appealing. A startup called Bolt Threads has developed a means of brewing spider silk and other insect fibers, and spinning then into yarn, making them accessible to makers of apparel, upholstery and more. Read More

Bowers & Wilkins, an audio gear brand that has been familiar to millions for decades, is being bought out by EVA Automation, a two-year-old company that has never released a product. Yet the old company’s name and CEO will remain. You’re not going to hear about a weirder deal today. Read More

San Francisco-based Branch International, or Branch.co, raised $9.2 million to bring digital financial services to mobile phone users in Sub-Saharan Africa. Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A round.
Branch’s free-to-download Android app is a kind of “branchless bank for the next generation,” says founder and CEO Matt Flannery. Read More

Korea’s Yello Mobile has made a name for itself raising $100 million and using it to hoover up more than 80 startups to build its mobile apps business, which now serves 18 million users. Now, Yello Mobile is raising again: it has racked up another $47.2 million in financing, led by existing investor Formation 8. The funding comes as convertible debt at a $4 billion… Read More

NextVR, a startup that promises to give consumers rich VR experiences for live events has raised a $30.5 million Series A led by Formation 8 the WSJ reports.
Notably the raise was also participated in by Comcast Ventures and Time Warner Investments, suggesting that NextVR’s proposition of allowing couch surfers a stadium experience for sporting events and concerts is garnering… Read More

Latest Crunch Report

We’ve heard about consolidation in the word of startups; today comes some news about a thinning of the ranks among VCs. Formation 8 — the VC firm co-founded by Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, Brian Koo and Jim Kim — is winding down its investment activities. Specifically, the VC has sent out a memo to portfolio companies noting that it will not raise a Fund 3, according to… Read More

Fieldwire, a San Francisco-based mobile and web platform designed to make collaboration on construction projects more efficient, has raised $6.6 million in fresh funding led by Formation 8. Other participants in the round included Trinity Ventures and earlier backers BloombergBeta and AngelPad, the investment fund and accelerator where the company first gained investors’… Read More

Some big moves ahead for Hyperloop Technologies, the LA-based futuristic tubular transportation startup with high ambitions to rethink high-speed transportation services to “work anywhere and live anywhere and be anywhere”. The company has appointed a new CEO — Rob Lloyd, who had been president at Cisco — and also added another familiar name to its list of advisors. Read More

For American cities that need to raise millions or billions of dollars to finance projects from local parks to suspension bridges, the fractal-like complexity of global financial markets means that funding is becoming ever more opaque and distant from the real-world work it supports.
A startup called Neighborly is hoping to narrow that gap with a $5.5 million round of funding from Joe… Read More

Cazena, a new platform that wants to make it easier for enterprises to process their data, today announced that it has raised a $20 million Series B round led by Formation 8. Other participants include Andreessen Horowitz and North Bridge Venture Partners, who both also participated in the company’s $8 million series A round last October. Read More

Venture capital firm Formation 8 has been removed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed in January against tech entrepreneur and investor Joe Lonsdale from a former girlfriend alleging sexual assault, battery, and other charges.
Lonsdale, who co-founded security and defense technology firm Palantir, is also a co-founder of Formation 8. He has vigorously denied all of Clougherty’s claims, and… Read More

Joe Lonsdale, the technology executive best known as the co-founder of Palantir and a partner of venture capital firm Formation 8, has been accused of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other charges in a civil lawsuit filed this week in San Francisco. Formation 8 is also named as a defendant in the suit.
Reached today for comment, Lonsdale categorically denied all of the claims and said he… Read More

Venture firm Formation 8 has been on a bit of hiring spree recently, bringing on multiple partners and advisors over the past few months. Today it’s announcing Lior Susan will be joining the firm to help lead its investments in the hardware sector. Read More

Formation 8, the investment firm founded by Joe Lonsdale, Brian Koo and Jim Kim, has closed its second fund, the company is announcing today. The new fund will give Formation 8 another $500 million to make investments in startups anywhere from seed- to late-stage, as it seeks to capitalize on some early successes. Read More

Formation 8 has been busy lately, as the relatively new venture firm has been adding team members and (reportedly) is in the midst of raising its second fund. Today the company announced the hiring of its newest team member, former Matrix and Khosla Ventures partner Shirish Sathaye. Read More